“What we conveyed to the president was that we believe that there is every condition necessary for the Socialist Party to form a government that holds majority backing in parliament and thus ensures the conditions necessary for national stability,” said Costa.


The main opposition party leader added that it was now down to the head of state “to make a judgement on the best path to follow” but that time was limited and not to be wasted “situations of non-definition and uncertainty prolonged through solutions” known from the outset to lack either viability or majority parliament support.


Since the failure of the Social Democratic and Popular Party coalition to gain a parliamentary majority, the Socialist Party has been sounding out the scope for forming the next government in conjunction with the Block of the Left and the Portuguese Communist Party, which both increased their parliamentary representation in the general election earlier this month.